Investigation of manufacturability and strength properties of hemp fiber reinforced composite materials

Today, the composite material industry is turning to renewable resources and is in search of new ones. Therefore, the production of fiber-reinforced composites has increased. Since it is a developing science, it is used in aviation, automotive and maritime sectors. Hemp fiber is included in the literature as a natural fiber. Composites produced with natural fibers are called green composites. Composite materials are preferred because of their light weight, cheap, easy maintenance, assembly and repair. Composite materials can be produced even by hand laying, which is an easy method. It is aimed to increase the strength of the composite structure with the reinforcement element used in this thesis. Hemp fiber was used as a reinforcement element. It is aimed to increase the mechanical properties of the sample produced from hemp fiber by using glass and kevlar fibers. In this study, epoxy resin was used as a matrix and hemp fiber was used as a reinforcement element. It is produced with 0°, 45° and 60° hemp fiber orientation. Samples were produced using the manual lay-up method. Three-point bending and tensile tests were performed and mechanical tests were carried out and the results were examined. Optical microscope images were examined for internal structure analysis.